We said good-bye to Cody, Wyoming about mid-morning. We had perfectly clear weather for our trip over the mountains. No snow this time. And it wasn’t as bad as I had remembered it. Must be getting used to those heights 😉 We arrived in Sundance, Wyoming (eastern part of the state) mid-afternoon and decided to go to Devils Tower then. The ride through the Black Hills was beautiful. From far away, the Tower doesn’t look like much.

It became more impressive the closer and closer we got.

It’s the giant remains of an ancient volcano (of course, I don’t buy into the theory that it’s millions & millions of years old), but it’s solid on top. You can see the columns on it.

It really is quite beautiful.

There is a path around it.

I think the sign said 1.3 miles. We didn’t intend to walk the entire thing, so we didn’t put Jonalyn in her stroller. We ended up going all the way around and she was a trooper. We had to rest for her a few times, and at the end she complained she was tired and she couldn’t do it anymore, but we encouraged her and she made it! Brian hopped across the boulders at the bottom for most of the way.

On the way out, we stopped and watched the prairie dogs at their colony.

There were so many of them, all chirping to each other. Jonalyn thought this was really cool!

We were sad to leave this beautiful place. We drove the 20 miles back to our hotel, stopping along the way for subs. The kids had their swim and so Friday ended.

On Saturday, we continued heading east. Everyone agreed that we wanted to stop at Wall Drug to do more shopping. I got a piece of Polish pottery for my mom, a thank you for taking care of our house and animals while we were gone. Alyssa bought a gift for her friend, and Doug and Brian both also got souvenirs. As we drove away, I was mad at myself for not getting a little ceramic moose for my printer’s tray (an antique printer’s tray hanging on my wall filled with little momentoes) and a really cheap sweatshirt. Oh, well. We had fun and even grabbed some lunch there. While it may be a tourist trap, it was a fun one!

We ended the day in Chamberlain, South Dakota, getting chicken from the grocery store deli for dinner (it’s a cheap way to eat), swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub.

We arrived home at [5:30] on Sunday afternoon, just in time to unload the van, dump everything in the house, and head out to church. Brian had a youth gathering afterward and we didn’t get home until [10:00]. I’m still working on unpacking and getting organized. But it was a wonderful, wonderful trip! If you haven’t been, you must go there. Later this week I hope to post some of my thoughts about the trip overall.

Thanks for being patient with me as I post all of my vacation memories. I hope you enjoyed our journey. I wanted to record what we did and saw before I forgot any of it. And I hope it will be useful for anyone planning on going there some day. Maybe I’ll write another post with some travel tips in it one of these days!!